October 2016 Briefing - Internal Medicine

Here are what the editors at HealthDay consider to be the most important developments in Internal Medicine for October 2016. This roundup includes the latest research news from journal articles, as well as the FDA approvals and regulatory changes that are the most likely to affect clinical practice.

Low and High HDL Tied to Increased Risk of Mortality

MONDAY, Oct. 31, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Low and high levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol are linked to increased mortality risk, according to a study published in the Nov. 8 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

MONDAY, Oct. 31, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- More than one-quarter of American seniors have never discussed end-of-life care, according to a research letter published online Oct. 31 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

MONDAY, Oct. 31, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Timely administration of antibiotics is associated with a reduction in mortality among patients with cirrhosis and upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB), according to a study published in the November issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

FRIDAY, Oct. 28, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Health care professionals need education about the safety and effectiveness of weight loss medications, according to a study published online Oct. 22 in the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research.

FRIDAY, Oct. 28, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Cardiometabolic syndrome (CMS) is associated with increased risk of subclinical atherosclerosis, but the risk is attenuated by high fitness, according to a study published in the Nov. 1 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.

THURSDAY, Oct. 27, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The side of origin of colon cancer (CC) impacts prognosis, with reduced risk of death for left-sided CC (LCC), according to a review published online Oct. 27 in JAMA Oncology.

THURSDAY, Oct. 27, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Oxygen therapy may not help patients in the less severe stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to research published in the Oct. 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

THURSDAY, Oct. 27, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For patients taking antiretroviral medications, HIV continues to reside in tissues, and though this may not cause AIDS, it could contribute to the development of unrelated conditions such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, according to research published in the October issue of the Journal of Virology.

THURSDAY, Oct. 27, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Treatment for depression and anxiety is nearly twice as common among U.S. cancer survivors as it is for those with no history of cancer, according to a study published online Oct. 26 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

THURSDAY, Oct. 27, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with diabetes should do three or more minutes of light activity every 30 minutes during prolonged periods of sitting, such as working on a computer or watching television, according to the latest recommendations from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) published in the November issue of Diabetes Care.

THURSDAY, Oct. 27, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP), the adjusted cost per patient is lower for treatment with pregabalin than gabapentin, according to a study published online Sept. 27 in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.

THURSDAY, Oct. 27, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For patients after acute myocardial infarction, rehospitalization for unstable angina (UA) and unplanned revascularization during the first year are associated with worse health status, according to a study published online Oct. 25 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Using genetic analyses of 40-year-old blood samples, scientists have arrived at a clearer understanding of the introduction and spread of HIV in North America. The new genetic research was published online Oct. 26 in Nature.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Young men with a resting heart rate and blood pressure that are elevated -- but still within normal range -- appear more likely to develop a wide range of mental illnesses later in their lives, according to a study published online Oct. 26 in JAMA Psychiatry.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- In a Clinical Practice Guideline published online Oct. 20 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, recommendations are presented for ventilator liberation for acutely hospitalized adults who have been mechanically ventilated for more than 24 hours.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Premenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding have low risk of endometrial cancer and atypical hyperplasia, according to a review published online Oct. 20 in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Governments and international organizations should focus on redressing the balance of ω-6 and ω-3 fatty acids in order to address obesity, according to an editorial published in the September issue of Open Heart.

TUESDAY, Oct. 25, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Women across the globe are now nearly as likely as men to drink and to engage in excessive, harmful drinking, according to a new study published online Oct. 24 in BMJ Open.

TUESDAY, Oct. 25, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Using the freshest blood for transfusions does not appear to significantly improve patient survival, according to a study published online Oct. 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

TUESDAY, Oct. 25, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Calcium supplements, taken within recommended levels, can be considered safe for the heart, according to new guidelines and an evidence review published online Oct. 25 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

TUESDAY, Oct. 25, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- It may be safe to switch from broad- to narrow-spectrum antibiotic coverage once hospitalized patients with healthcare-associated pneumonia reach clinical stability, according to a study published online Oct. 3 in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

TUESDAY, Oct. 25, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) has advantages as a colorectal cancer (CRC) screening method, and should be a component of a screening program, according to an Ideas and Opinions piece published online Oct. 25 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

TUESDAY, Oct. 25, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- More than half of melanomas are self-detected, and more melanomas are self-detected by women than men, according to a study published in the November issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

MONDAY, Oct. 24, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly one-third of cancer deaths among Americans aged 35 or older are caused by smoking, and the rate is much higher in the South, according to research published online Oct. 24 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

MONDAY, Oct. 24, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with type 2 diabetes, saxagliptin is associated with improvement in the albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR), according to a study published online Oct. 17 in Diabetes Care.

MONDAY, Oct. 24, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Adaptive working memory training (WMT), but not non-adaptive WMT, improves working memory performance in HIV participants and seronegative (SN) controls and reduces brain activation at one and six months, according to a study published online Oct. 19 in the Annals of Neurology.

MONDAY, Oct. 24, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Once-daily testosterone solution 2 percent (T-sol) is safe and improves sex drive and energy in men with androgen deficiency, according to a study published in the November issue of The Journal of Urology.

MONDAY, Oct. 24, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Clinicians are cautiously supportive of an electronic portal to enhance communication in the intensive care unit (ICU), according to a study published online Oct. 4 in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- From 1999 to 2014 the numbers of deaths, both accidental and intentional, due to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning significantly declined in the United States, according to a study published in the October issue of the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A new analysis of existing studies, published online Sept. 28 in the Journal of Nutrition, provides more support for the idea that cocoa in chocolate may provide some health benefits.

FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to high concentrations of lead -- often found in glazes that line traditional Mexican ceramics, cookware, and dishware -- can be toxic after extended periods of handling, according to a case report published online Oct. 17 in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.

FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Participation in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) does not improve reported health status during the year following acute myocardial infarction (AMI); however, participation in CR does confer a significant survival benefit, according to a study published online Oct. 19 in JAMA Cardiology.

FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For men with low-risk prostate cancer, those who enter active surveillance have higher grade of disease at prostatectomy, but no difference in other adverse pathological outcomes, compared to those undergoing immediate surgery, according to a study published in the November issue of The Journal of Urology.

FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For overweight and obese women with type 2 diabetes, replacement of diet beverages (DBs) with water is associated with greater weight reduction and improvements in glucose metabolism, according to a study published online Oct. 16 in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.

THURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- More than 90 percent of men in Sweden who have very low-risk prostate cancer choose close monitoring rather than immediate treatment -- and more American men should use that option, according to a study published online Oct. 20 in JAMA Oncology.

THURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- About one of every six patients hospitalized for a first episode of syncope has a pulmonary embolism, according to a study published in the Oct. 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

THURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) who also have high levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a by-product of meat consumption, may have a higher risk of dying within five years, compared with those with the lowest levels, according to a study published online Oct. 19 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

THURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Heavy cannabis users have lower bone density compared to cigarette smokers, according to a new study published online Sept. 1 in The American Journal of Medicine.

THURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Patients and health care providers have markedly divergent perceptions of barriers to diabetic retinopathy screening, according to a study published in the Oct. 6 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventing Chronic Disease.

THURSDAY, Oct. 20, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, angina pectoris (AP) is associated with worse health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and depressive symptoms, according to a study published in the Oct. 15 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases reached a record high in the United States in 2015, according to the annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report released Oct. 19 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Among patients with ureteral stones, those who are younger, have proximal stones, and require intravenous narcotics for pain control are more likely to return to the emergency department within 30 days, according to a study published in the November issue of The Journal of Urology.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Considerable costs are associated with absenteeism related to chronic diseases and health risk factors, according to a study published in the Oct. 6 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventing Chronic Disease.

TUESDAY, Oct. 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Some patients with atrial fibrillation who have implanted pacemakers or defibrillators may not always need anticoagulation, according to a study published online Oct. 17 in Circulation.

TUESDAY, Oct. 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with type 2 diabetes, a short walk after eating may help lower blood glucose levels more than exercising at other times of the day, according to research published online Oct. 17 in Diabetologia.

TUESDAY, Oct. 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Women vaccinated with earlier versions of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may only need cervical cancer screening every five years starting at age 25 or 30, and women who've received the updated vaccine need screening even less often, according to a study published online Oct. 17 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

TUESDAY, Oct. 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Statins can interact with other drugs prescribed for cardiovascular disease, but there are ways to navigate the issue, according to new recommendations from the American Heart Association published online Oct. 17 in Circulation.

TUESDAY, Oct. 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) with an exercise-induced increase in the ratio between early mitral inflow velocity and mitral annular early diastolic velocity (E/e'), spironolactone is associated with improved exercise capacity, according to a study published in the Oct. 25 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

TUESDAY, Oct. 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Herbal and dietary supplement (HDS)-induced liver injury accounts for 20 percent of cases of hepatotoxicity in the United States, according to research published online Sept. 27 in Hepatology.

TUESDAY, Oct. 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For women, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and total estradiol (TE) are associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), according to research published online Oct. 10 in Diabetes.

TUESDAY, Oct. 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For U.S. adults, the economic burden associated with vaccine-preventable diseases was estimated at about $9 billion in 2015, according to a study published in the October issue of Health Affairs.

MONDAY, Oct. 17, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For overweight or obese individuals, income predicts receipt of weight-loss advice from health care providers, according to a study published in the Oct. 6 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventing Chronic Disease.

MONDAY, Oct. 17, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Efforts to improve the quality of clinical care in the United States have had little impact on many aspects of outpatient care, according to an analysis published online Oct. 17 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

MONDAY, Oct. 17, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Use of complementary health approaches is significantly higher for U.S. adults with musculoskeletal pain disorders, according to a report published online Oct. 12 in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health Statistics Reports.

MONDAY, Oct. 17, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Data mining coupled with laboratory experiments can identify QT interval-prolonging drug-drug interactions (QT-DDIs), according to a study published in the Oct. 18 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

MONDAY, Oct. 17, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Narrow-network health insurance plans have lower monthly premiums than larger-network plans, according to a study published in the October issue of Health Affairs.

FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Having a large waistline, a high body mass index (BMI), and type 2 diabetes may raise risk for liver cancer, according to research published online Oct. 14 in Cancer Research.

FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A type of smokeless tobacco called snus may increase a prostate cancer patient's mortality risk, according to a study published online Oct. 12 in the International Journal of Cancer.

FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Crohn's disease appears to have at least two distinct genetic subtypes, which could explain why the condition is so hard to treat, according to research published online Oct. 14 in Gut.

FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Migrants from countries with a high incidence of tuberculosis who undergo screening before entry to low-incidence countries pose a negligible risk of onward transmission but are at increased risk of the infection, according to a study published online Oct. 11 in The Lancet.

FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Hospitals in states that implemented Medicaid expansion in 2014 had a significant increase in Medicaid revenue, according to a study published in the Oct. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Some LivaNova PLC (formerly Sorin Group Deutschland GmbH) Stockert 3T heater-cooler devices might have been contaminated with Mycobacterium chimaera during manufacturing, according to a press release from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The racial gap for breast cancer mortality is closing, particularly among younger women, according to research published in the Oct. 14 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The first complete genome sequence of a sample of Zika virus derived from semen has been obtained, according to research published in the September/October issue of Genome Announcements.

FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The risk of dementia might be doubled for prostate cancer patients who are treated with androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), according to a study published online Oct. 13 in JAMA Oncology.

FRIDAY, Oct. 14, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Obesity before a cancer diagnosis is associated with an increased risk for overall and individual secondary primary cancers (SPCs) in males, according to a study published online Oct. 10 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

THURSDAY, Oct. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. presidential election has caused stress for more than half of American adults, regardless of party affiliation, according to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association.

THURSDAY, Oct. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Fifty percent of U.S. women aged 15 to 44 years expect to have a child in the future, according to an October data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

THURSDAY, Oct. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The Zika virus may harm a infant's brain even if the mother is infected just before giving birth, according to a study published online Sept. 6 in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

THURSDAY, Oct. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Mammography screening is much more likely to find insignificant breast tumors than it is to catch potentially life-threatening cancer in its early stages, according to a study published in the Oct. 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

THURSDAY, Oct. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- An inhaled version of the Parkinson's drug levodopa can help when patients experience symptoms between doses of the pill form of the medication, according to a study published in the Oct. 12 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

THURSDAY, Oct. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Low diastolic blood pressure (DBP) seems to be associated with subclinical myocardial damage, according to a study published in the Oct. 18 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

THURSDAY, Oct. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A computerized order entry tool can increase the use of nonimaging cardiac stress tests among hospitalized patients, according to a study published in the Oct. 15 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.

THURSDAY, Oct. 13, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The risk of radiocontrast-associated nephropathy may be overestimated, according to a study published online Sept. 29 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Dietary calcium in the form of supplements, but not calcium-rich foods, might have a harmful impact on the heart, according to a study published online Oct. 11 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Some antihypertensive medications may increase the risk that patients will be hospitalized for depression and bipolar disorder, according to a study published online Oct. 10 in Hypertension.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- There is an association between orthostatic hypotension and an increased risk for dementia, according to a new study published online Oct. 11 in PLOS Medicine.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), late mortality is mainly related to noncardiac causes, according to research published in the Oct. 11 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- There is considerable variation in state policies regarding freestanding emergency departments, according to a report published in the October issue of Health Affairs.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults who volunteer have lower risk of developing cognitive impairment, according to a study published online Oct. 3 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Physicians are twice as likely to get the right diagnosis on the first try as 23 popular symptom-checking computer programs, according to a research letter published online Oct. 11 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

TUESDAY, Oct. 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Use of traditional multivitamins is decreasing among Americans, while supplements such as vitamin D, fish oil, and probiotics are becoming more popular, according to a study published in the Oct. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

TUESDAY, Oct. 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Postmenopausal obese women who lose weight eating a high-protein diet may not experience any improvements in insulin sensitivity, according to a study published in the Oct. 11 issue of Cell Reports.

TUESDAY, Oct. 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Breast cancer chemotherapy costs can vary by tens of thousands of dollars in the United States, depending on the course of treatment doctors select, according to a study published online Oct. 10 in Cancer.

TUESDAY, Oct. 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Intense anger or heavy physical exertion may be triggers for an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in some people, according to research published online Oct. 11 in Circulation.

TUESDAY, Oct. 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- When a hospital patient is taking antibiotics, the next patient to use the same bed may face an elevated risk of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), according to a study published online Oct. 10 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

TUESDAY, Oct. 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The Veterans Affairs Geriatric Scholars Program (GSP), which utilizes a blended program educational format, improves clinical practices, and most participants report improved job satisfaction, according to research published online Oct. 5 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

TUESDAY, Oct. 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- An increase in systolic blood pressure (SBP) due to genetic variants is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, according to research published online Oct. 4 in Diabetes.

MONDAY, Oct. 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Many men who have sex with men (MSM) are not aware that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication can protect them from HIV, according to a study published online Sept. 28 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

MONDAY, Oct. 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. health care system is one of the least efficient worldwide based on a Bloomberg index that assesses life expectancy, health care spending per capita, and relative spending as a share of gross domestic product, according to a report published by Bloomberg.

MONDAY, Oct. 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Most women newly diagnosed with breast cancer perceive high primary care provider (PCP) quality, and report that their PCPs have high engagement and communication, according to research published online Oct. 3 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

MONDAY, Oct. 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Adding a full-time trained communication facilitator in the intensive care unit (ICU) may improve quality of care while also reducing costs, according to a study published online Sept. 27 in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

MONDAY, Oct. 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Blood levels of ghrelin may be a predictor of executive function impairment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), according to a study published online Sept. 30 in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation.

FRIDAY, Oct. 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Antibodies to periodontal bacteria are generally not associated with elevated risk of rheumatoid factor (RF), according to a study published in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatology.

FRIDAY, Oct. 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental drug -- a vasopressin antagonist called ABT-436 -- shows some promise in treating alcohol use disorder and smoking, according to a study published online Sept. 23 in Neuropsychopharmacology.

FRIDAY, Oct. 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The United States lags behind other advanced nations when it comes to infant mortality and the life expectancy of its citizens, according to a comprehensive review of global health statistics published in the Oct. 8 issue of The Lancet.

FRIDAY, Oct. 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- After adjusting for inflation, nearly two-thirds of 86 cancer medications had price increases between 2010 and 2015, according to a research letter published online Oct. 6 in JAMA Oncology.

FRIDAY, Oct. 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Older patients with myocardial infarction (MI) who receive immediate high-quality care from their hospital often receive a long-term survival advantage, according to a study published in the Oct. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

FRIDAY, Oct. 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Adding daratumumab to standard treatment for advanced cases of multiple myeloma may significantly improve patients' chances of a response and even recovery, according to a study published in the Oct. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in women may be more difficult than in men because older women tend to retain better verbal memory, according to a study published online Oct. 5 in Neurology.

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)-lowering genetic variants are associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a meta-analysis published in the Oct. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Electronic-cigarette devices are randomly and unexpectedly exploding, burning and injuring people near them when they detonate, according to a research letter published in the Oct. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The measles outbreak that occurred in an Amish community in 2014 illustrates the ongoing threat the infection presents -- and the importance of routine vaccination, U.S. government researchers report in the Oct. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- In a new report, published online Oct. 5 in the New England Journal of Medicine, an international team of researchers says it has developed the strongest evidence to date that Zika virus can cause Guillain-Barré syndrome.

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- From 2001 to 2011 there was a considerable increase in the burden of cirrhosis and acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), according to research published online Oct. 3 in Hepatology.

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Industry-funded researchers say they've developed a way to improve the accuracy of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) testing, according to a report published in the Oct. 5 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The average maximum human life span is 115 years, and the absolute limit of human life span will be 125 years, according to a study published online Oct. 5 in Nature.

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Longitudinal changes in depression are associated with differences in mortality among patients with lung cancer, according to a study published online Oct. 3 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Parts of the Midwest and South have the highest smoking rates in the United States, according to a study published online Oct. 1 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Young adults in the United States are more likely to become addicted to prescription opioids than they were in years past, and they're also more likely to use heroin, according to a study recently published online in Addictive Behaviors.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Many interruptions in inpatient rehabilitation for stroke survivors and patients with brain and spinal cord injuries are avoidable, according to a study published online Sept. 14 in the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- While therapeutic hypothermia may help improve some outcomes, it doesn't appear to provide benefit when cardiac arrest happens in a hospital setting, according to a study published in the Oct. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Adults who have experienced stress as children appear to have an increased risk of shorter telomeres, according to research published online Oct. 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Development of depression is common in patients with newly diagnosed chronic stable angina, according to a study published online Oct. 4 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Weekly doses of vitamin D do not improve oral glucose tolerance or markers of glycemic status among those at risk for diabetes, according to a study published online Sept. 26 in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A doctor's political beliefs can sway their treatment decisions, according to a study published online Oct. 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- In correspondence published in the October issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers report that the Zika virus has been found inside the sperm of a man who had just returned from French Guyana.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released new recommendations on how long men with either Zika infection or exposure should abstain from trying to conceive. The recommendations have been published in the Sept. 30 early-release issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Sodium intake has a direct relationship with total mortality, according to a report published in the Oct. 11 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Pharmacist-managed warfarin anticoagulation therapy is associated with improved patient satisfaction, although the benefits in terms of control, safety, and mortality are unclear, according to a review published online Sept. 28 in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Summer levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (S-25OHD) are associated with bone mineral density of the total hip, according to a study published online Sept. 25 in the Journal of Internal Medicine.

TUESDAY, Oct. 4, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults have high incidence of cardiovascular risk factors, with increased incidence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia for blacks, according to a study published online Sept. 26 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

MONDAY, Oct. 3, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with stable angina (SA) or acute coronary syndrome (ACS), the benefits and risks of cangrelor are consistent, according to a study published in the Sept. 26 issue of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.

MONDAY, Oct. 3, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A new resource has been developed to help physicians identify distressed colleagues and help them to access care, according to a report published by the American Medical Association (AMA).

MONDAY, Oct. 3, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A simple, seven-question test for prediabetes may be needlessly sending millions of healthy Americans to their physicians for follow-up testing, according to a research letter published online Oct. 3 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

MONDAY, Oct. 3, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A novel proactive multidisciplinary service model can identify falls, syncope, and dizziness symptoms, and reveal new diagnoses, according to a study published online Sept. 27 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

MONDAY, Oct. 3, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and underlying metabolic disorders, physical activity is associated with a reduction in intrahepatic lipid content and markers of hepatocellular injury, according to a meta-analysis published in the October issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

MONDAY, Oct. 3, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Adhering to medication regimens for the treatment of psoriasis can be an additional source of considerable emotional distress for patients, according to a study published online Sept. 24 in the British Journal of Dermatology.